


To Hang Yourself With

by helens78



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Humor, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-29
Updated: 2008-02-29
Packaged: 2017-10-05 20:17:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helens78/pseuds/helens78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney has a tendency to get sudden, utterly brilliant ideas that will save all of humanity can come at inconvenient times.  Some people put up with this better than others.  Some people wince whenever they look at certain power relay stations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Hang Yourself With

Sheppard walked into the mess hall rubbing at his throat, making strange faces that involved opening his jaw a little too wide. It kind of looked like yawning--this was Sheppard, and he was weird like that sometimes--but Ronon could guess the real story.

He waved at Sheppard, beckoning him over. Sheppard nodded, gave him a wave, and looked over the breakfast choices. He ended up coming over to Ronon's table with some juice and a pudding cup.

"Nutritious," Ronon said, grinning.

Sheppard croaked out a noise and nodded.

"Tea's better than juice for that."

But half the juice was already gone, and Sheppard was wincing through it. "Yeah," he said--half speaking, half whispering--"but it's _orange_ juice, which, right now--" he had to stop for a few seconds to cough-- "let's just say the element of revenge is worth it."

"Rope," Ronon offered. "Lots and lots of rope. I've still got some."

"No thanks. We're good."

"You keep losing your voice, Dr. Keller's going to start asking what's wrong with you."

"First," John said, and his voice cracked. He frowned, and Ronon tried not to grin. "First, I haven't lost my voice. And second, _Jennifer_ isn't going to _ask_ what's wrong with me, because we both know you've already explained it to her."

"Didn't."

"Please."

"Really." Ronon leaned forward. "I don't do that. Come on."

"Oh." Sheppard sat back, shrugging. "Well, she'd figure it out on her own anyway. And like I said, I haven't lost my voice. My throat's a little sore. That's all."

"So what'd we get out of it this time?" Ronon glanced up at the lights. "Seems a little brighter in here than usual. Did he go to work on the power again?"

Sheppard grunted. "Something about hooking up the power grid in a slightly more intelligent way. I think we're going to have enough to get another section of the city online; we just need to figure out who's in line for the extra supply this time. I think the marine biologists are interested, but the botanists are saying they haven't gotten extra research in a few weeks."

"I vote for whoever's going to put more food on the table, personally," Ronon said. "Could be either with those two groups."

"You know, it's funny," Sheppard said; he took another drink of his orange juice before continuing. "The last time _I_ said that, I got a lecture on sensitivity to our marine 'friends'. I'm still not sure if Jenkins was kidding or not. You'd think the guy'd never heard of tuna." Another drink, and Sheppard started coughing.

"You sure you don't want that rope?"

"Did it actually work?"

"Mostly." It wasn't like he'd tied Rodney down _every_ time, but he'd sure as hell done it whenever Rodney'd been stuck on some problem or technical dilemma for a couple days. He didn't bear a grudge or anything, but he still remembered knocking Rodney flat on his ass that one time, the first time, when Rodney had started coming, grabbed Ronon by the hair, and yelled out, "fuck, yes, the second power coupling--_oh my God yes_\--third-floor relay station--"

The third-floor relay station still made Ronon's jaw hurt whenever he looked at it. There were times he wasn't sorry they'd both moved on.

Sheppard was about finished with his pudding, and he looked at what was left of Ronon's eggs. "You gonna finish that?"

Ronon slid his plate over. "Help yourself."

The doors opened again; this time it was Rodney. Ronon grinned at him, then looked at Sheppard. "McKay," he said. "You want me to block him while you make your getaway?"

Sheppard rolled his eyes. He started to stick out his tongue, but it got about as far as the end of his lower lip before he winced and made another face. He was still making faces by the time Rodney sat down, glancing from one of them to the other. "What? Did I miss something?"

"Nope," Ronon said. "Just wondering what you did to the power grid."

"Oh, I was just realigning the--" Rodney blinked at Sheppard and lowered his voice. "You told him?"

"Rodney--"

"Didn't have to. I've _been_ there."

Rodney sighed. "I said I was sorry--"

"Yep."

"And the next time we got targeted by the Wraith, you were more than happy to have extra power--"

"Yep."

"--so could you maybe, just once, cut me some slack?"

"Nope."

Rodney sighed. Sheppard patted him on the back, and Ronon grinned at both of them.

"You let me know if you ever want that rope," Ronon said, standing up. Rodney looked up at him, wide-eyed, and he looked at Sheppard, too, as if he couldn't decide who was more suspicious right now.

The last thing Ronon heard from Rodney was a plaintive "He wasn't _serious_, right?"; Ronon was still grinning as he left the room.

_-end-_


End file.
